She draws portraits — spare yet lifelike — in an hour and whips together intricate terra cotta sculptures in under two.

"I look at my hands and sometimes I think, ‘how did I do that?’" says Pletzner, who took her first art class at age 8.

Now, at 87, Pletzner may not be as prolific but she’s far from slowing down.

She gives private lessons and draws free portraits of residents at the Menlo Park veterans home in Edison. Next, she’s planning a pastels workshop at the Metuchen senior center. A selection of her works including paintings, sculptures and linoleum cutouts are on display at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church in Metuchen until June 30.

Bobbi Goodman, 68, took art lessons in the 1970s and recalls how Pletzner preached good technique.

"I can still hear her ringing in my ears: ‘before you learn to paint you have to learn how to see,’" Goodman said. "I can also hear her saying, ‘hold your brush right, you’re not holding your brush right.’"

Kathy Glazer of Metuchen describes Pletzner’s style as "realistic yet impressionistic." She admired Pletzner’s painting of a woman sitting cross-legged currently on exhibit.

"Just the line that shows her shin bone - you know she studied anatomy because - bang - she knows it needs to go there," Glazer said.

For portraits, Pletzner puts her subjects at ease so their personalities can shine.

"She talks to them and I guess she wants to get their expressions," said Marsha Lasko, supervisor of recreation at the Menlo Park veterans home where Pletzner has volunteered for eight years. "She’s able to bring out a certain quality in them."

Her artistic escapades began in grade school. Once Pletzner dotted her face with red nail polish to feign measles. "I hated school, I was the worst student you could imagine," she said. The school nurse, however, saw through her scheme.

At age 13, the Newark native enrolled at the Essex County Vocational School, which Pletzner calls "the best thing that happened in my life." There she learned to harness her raw talent in a program called The Practical Arts, where she studied everything from photography to watercolors and fashion illustration to advertising.

Pletzner’s exhibit at Saint Luke’s, where she’s a longtime member, displays a sliver of her voluminous 72-year collection. It includes one of her earliest pieces — a pastel portrait of her younger brother, Tom, drawn when she was 14.

When she was 20, Pletzner joined the Air Force. As a topical drafter based in Washington D.C., she drew lines on military maps that showed pilots where to fly their missions during World War II.

After two years, she returned to civilian life and enrolled at the now defunct Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts through the GI Bill. As a side gig, she taught dance in Newark and married one of her students, Robert Hodge. While raising her children in Metuchen, Pletzner gave art lessons and also opened a Main Street store called "Things" to indulge another passion: collecting antiques.

"I started buying for myself and accumulated too much so I had to open a shop," Pletzner says laughing. After getting divorced in 1974, she moved to Point Pleasant and opened her second antique shop, aptly named "Other Things." Eventually, she returned to Metuchen where she lives today with her cat, Daisy.

Over the years, Pletzner estimates she’s produced "thousands" of pieces of art. A painting of her two daughters Lauren and Suzan dressed in rain coats was displayed at the Smithsonian. Her youngest child, David, also ended up in many paintings. "They were my favorite subjects. I’d say, ‘pose for mommy,’" she said.

Pletzner’s eyes sparkle when she talks shop — about capturing someone’s expression on canvas or giving form to lumps of clay.

"You’re making something that’s never been there before - it’s like giving birth," she said.

The exhibit is on display from at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church, 17 Oak Avenue in Metuchen, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. through Thursday, and by appointment.